This invention relates to a single tapered bushing for receiving and mounting a shaft within a rotatable hub so as to permit the shaft to be readily rotatably coupled to the hub and so as to accommodate variations in both concentricity variations and misalignments of the shaft axis and the hub axis. More particularly, the present invention relates to a single tapered bushing wherein the tapered portion of the cooperating sleeve projects outwardly from the end of the bushing opposite to the end in which the shaft is received and is thereby utilized to complete the assembly.
Single tapered bushing systems for mounting a shaft to a utility device, such as, for example, a speed reducer, are known and have been widely used in the art. Such devices are exemplified in U.S. Pat. Nos.: 4,626,114 and 2,811,861. In these known devices, the shaft is inserted from a first end of the bushing device in which a sleeve is provided between the shaft and a rotatable hub of the bushing system. These systems have the disadvantage that the shaft is not easily assembled to the bushing system and cannot be readily removed. This is because the shaft must be assembled with the bushing system between the end of the frame of the bushing system and the immediately adjacent associated machinery. This is a problem because typically there is insufficient clearance to provide access to the fasteners which assemble the bushing unit to the shaft as those fasteners are located on the side of the bushing system which is immediately adjacent to the associated machinery. These and other disadvantages are overcome by the present invention, wherein the shaft is inserted in the conventional manner from a first end of the bushing device. However, the bushing device includes a hub member and cooperating tapered sleeve member of the bushing system which are assembled in a manner which is directly opposite to that utilized in the prior art and wherein the assembly is completed at the end of the bushing system which is remote from the end in which the shaft is inserted into the bushing assembly.